


four is definitely a crowd

by icemakestars



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Aquariums, Engagement, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:41:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26758909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icemakestars/pseuds/icemakestars
Summary: Gray has planned a special day out for Natsu and himself, but it ends up being for his father and his father's boyfriend as well.
Relationships: Gildarts Clive/Silver Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster
Comments: 5
Kudos: 29
Collections: Fairy Tail LGBTales, Fairy Tail Rarepairs





	four is definitely a crowd

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mdelpin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mdelpin/gifts).



> A reque$t for the beautiful mdelpin <3 thank you for always giving me your love and support!!

Even though Gray didn’t hate animals, he certainly didn’t like them enough to plan an entire day around them. But Natsu had begged to go to the large aquarium in the city, and  Gray didn’t seem able to deny Natsu anything anymore ; he had booked the tickets almost instantly. 

“Look at the hands on this little guy!” Natsu pressed his hands and face to the glass, mimicking the face of the axolotl that stared back at him. Natsu was childish, and excitable, but he was  _ his _ . That made everything else worth it for Gray. 

He placed a hand on Natsu’s lower back, a small piece of contact to compensate for how Gray did not yet feel comfortable holding hands in public. It wasn’t through fear of backlash - between the two of them, they could take almost anyone who challenged their relationship - but more a sense of privacy. Gray had never been good at being vulnerable, and his feelings for Natsu may be his greatest weakness of all. Gray knew how easy it would be to exploit that, so he kept the intimacy between them. And Natsu never seemed to mind, simply smiled wide and loved deep, dragging Gray by the arm into the light. 

It was the same now, with Natsu pulling Gray from tank to tank, and then Gray felt certain in a way that he never had done before. The ring in his pocket was proof of that, still in the box, waiting to be presented to the other man. Proposing in public had never been Gray’s intentions, but he knew that Natsu would kick his ass if he didn’t make something of a spectacle out of it. Assuming that he said yes, of course. 

“Gray… is that your dad?” 

“Huh?”

Gray swerved on his heel, gaze darting to where Natsu had pointed to. If an aquarium held little interest for Gray then it held none for Silver, and yet there he was, shirt tucked into his smartest pair of jeans, a knitted jumper on top. He looked smart, and nervous. Both were incredibly unlike him. 

With Natsu in tow, Gray strode quickly over to where his father stood and prodded him in the chest. 

“What the  _ hell _ are you doing here?” 

Silver was startled, taking a step back and blinking twice in quick succession, but before he could reply his eyes fell on something over Gray’s shoulder and his entire being softened. 

“Yo, Gray! Natsu! Didn’t expect to see you guys here.” Gildarts wrapped his arm over Natsu’s shoulder, ruffling the pink hair into a further state of disarray. 

“Good to see ya, old man.” Natsu grinned, and the pair immediately fell back into their usual banter, scuffling in the middle of the aquarium as concerned onlookers whispered and pointed. 

“Who are you calling old, punk!” 

Gray sighed, turning away from the squabbling figures to face his dad instead. 

“A word.” He gestured with his thumb to a doorway around thirty feet away from where they were stood, and Silver followed dutifully, leaving Natsu and Gildarts to get their excitement out of their system. 

At the age of fifteen, Natsu’s father had died and he had ended up on the streets of Fiore, where Gildarts had found him wandering, cold and without a home. He had taken Natsu in and they had formed a kinship; they were not related by blood and had never claimed to be, but their bond was stronger than most that Gray had ever experienced. It had been strange at first, that Gray’s boyfriend’s father figure was dating his own dad, but they were all adults and it didn’t matter to Gray what anyone else thought anymore. 

Still, if there was one day that Gray didn’t want to be out in public with his messed up family, it was today.

“You can’t be here.” Gray hissed, checking his surroundings before subtlety showing his father the ring box hidden in his jacket pocket. 

Silver’s eyes widened and he snatched the box, turning it over in his large hands. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Gray stared at his father impatiently as Silver dug around in his pockets and produced a box almost identical to Gray’s. Another engagement ring. Gray’s mouth fell open. 

“No  _ fucking  _ way.”

It had been almost two decades since Mika - Gray’s mother - had died, so he was happy enough to see his father moving on with his life. Gildarts was okay as well; obnoxious and immature, but fundamentally he was a good person. Gray’s issue wasn’t with his father getting engaged, or even his soon-to-be step-father, but simply the timing. They could have gotten engaged on any day of any year, and yet had both chosen the same unsuspecting Thursday afternoon to take the next step in their respective relationships. 

As if to confirm his fears, Gray plucked the blue satin box from his father’s hand and flipped open the lid. 

The ring was a band of gold, simple in style with a single emerald imbedded into the centre. There was an engraving along the inside, too personal for Gray to read, so he snapped it shut. He was honestly just grateful that they had managed to choose different rings. 

“It’s getting to around lunch time.” Gildarts yelled, approaching slowly. “Should we all go for something to eat?”

Gray stuffed the box in his pocket, watching with panic as his father did the same, and together they turned to face their respective partners. 

“Yes!” Natsu grinned. “I’m absolutely starving.” 

Gray set his usual smile in place, rolling his eyes and shoving into Natsu with his shoulder. “You’re always starving, moron.” 

Natsu was ready to protest when Silver slapped Gildarts on the arm and gestured over to a new exhibit. 

“We had a late breakfast, so we should be okay for another hour or so.” Silver offered a brief, pointed look to his son. “Besides, we’ll just cramp their style. Let’s leave the boys in peace.” 

Gildarts seemed taken aback, but he didn’t question why Silver was so reluctant to spend time with his son. Instead he dug deep in his pocket and produced a crumpled one thousand jewel note and thrust it into Gray’s hand. 

“Get a drink on me, kids.” 

Even though he rolled his eyes, Gray knew better than to argue. He was in his mid-twenties, had a house with a mortgage and soon, hopefully, a fiance, but he would always be Silver’s son, and Gildarts’ daughter’s childhood best friend. The two men had watched him grow up; those paternal feelings weren’t about to dissipate because of something as insignificant as time. 

“Come on, Natsu.” Gray grumbled, dragging the other man by the arm. Natsu shouted a thanks to Gildarts over his shoulder, but Gray was too tense to do anything other than move towards the cafeteria. 

He had a time limit now; as soon as his father proposed, Gildarts would come and find them to reveal their happy news. Natsu would do the same. Silver would know this too, which meant that they had to propose at the same time, or on another day, and Gray couldn’t wait any longer to ask Natsu such a precious question.

There were few people eating in the aquarium’s cafe, just a group of teenage girls and a young couple who was trying to prevent their toddler from throwing his food on the floor. Gray felt sick, a mixture of nerves and excitement and something more, something larger than that, all weighing heavily on his insides when he truly accepted that this was it. This was the moment he had been planning for so long. 

They sat on a table for four, not feeling guilty about taking up the extra room when there were still plenty of tables spare. The wood was faded and scuffed and sticky to the touch, but none of that mattered when Natsu took Gray’s hand in his own and squeezed it. 

“You’ve been acting weird since I potted your dad. Did something happen?” Natsu tilted his head to the side, frowning with the question as stray pieces of pink hair fell into his eyes. He was beautiful. Truly, he was. And for all of his childish antics, Natsu was no idiot. Stupid, maybe, but definitely not an idiot. 

Gray forced a smile. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter.” 

It was clear from Natsu’s gaze that he didn’t believe Gray, but the waitress was approaching their table and thankfully that was enough for Natsu to let it go. 

“Are you guys ready to order?” She was young, only in her midteens, but still her tone was bright and friendly. If she hated her job, she didn’t show it. Being a waiter throughout college, Gray could respect that. 

“I want the shark attack special with extra fries and a cola.” Natsu grinned when the waitress raised her brows. Less than ten people had ever finished that special on its own, and here Natsu was ordering more food on top of that. Gray was almost scared for him, but he was used to Natsu’s appetite by now. 

“Just a water for me, thanks.” Gray nodded at the young girl, wincing when a foot connected with his shin under the table. 

“You ain’t havin’ any of mine!” Natsu warned, but Gray ignored him. He was too anxious to eat, with every nerve in her body thrumming painfully loud as he waited for the right time to produce the ring. 

“Is that everything?” The waitress asked, leaving with a smile when both men nodded. 

He couldn’t meet Natsu’s gaze; it was too intense. Too knowing. Natsu was waiting for Gray to be honest and explain what was wrong but there was nothing wrong, not really. In fact, things could go very, very  _ right _ . Gray just had to wait for the perfect moment. 

Fidgeting in his chair, Gray realised that there would never be a completely perfect moment, a moment void of complications and anxieties. It was difficult, but all he truly needed was to be alone with Natsu. Which he was, at that moment. It was as good as any. 

“Natsu…” Gray began with a long and shaky breath. “We’ve been together for a while now, not including the mess when we were on-and-off as teens.” Natsu laughed at the memory. “But despite all the hardships and bad stuff and how fucking annoying you are-” 

“Hey!” Natsu protested with a pout.

“- I still love you.” Gray could feel the heat on his skin, but he couldn’t turn back now. “I don’t say it enough, not with words anyway, but it’s true. And to prove it…”

With shaking fingers, Gray plucked the box from his pocket and offered it to Natsu. The pink-haired man stared, stunned, eyes wide and wet and flicking between the blue satin box and Gray’s uncertain smile.

“I wanted to give you this.” 

Gray used his thumb to slide underneath the lip of the box, pushing it open to present Natsu with… the wrong ring. 

“What the  _ fuck _ ?” Gray yelped, jumping up from his chair with a clatter, loud enough to gather the attention of the other customers. 

“What’s wrong, Gray?” 

“This is wrong.” 

As soon as the words had passed his lips, Gray wished that he could take them back, inhale them back into his throat and swallow them down. Natsu looked distraught, skin going pale and tears threatening to fall. 

“So you… don’t want to marry me?” Natsu’s voice broke, Gray’s heart with it. 

“No! Shit.” Gray slammed the palm of his hand onto the table. “That isn’t it, Natsu. I mean -” 

He was about to launch into an explanation, an apology, a mixture of everything he needed to rectify what was supposed to be a perfect moment, when a deep, commanding voice took the attention away from Gray and Natsu and focused it to the opening of the cafeteria. 

“Gray Eugene Fullbuster, what the  _ hell  _ have you done?” 

Slowly, Gray turned, blinking with the realisation that it was himself that was being called. It had been years since he had heard his full name, something his parents only ever used when he was in trouble… Turning to face the thundering face of his father, and the dazed Gildarts that followed, Gray easily accepted that to be the case. 

Before he could ask, Silver whipped out a ring box and placed it noisily onto the table. A blue, satin ring box, almost identical to the one in Gray’s pocket… oh.  _ Oh.  _ The golden band that Gray had showed Natsu was beautiful, but it wasn’t meant for him. Gray snatched the new box from the table and peered inside, exhaling in relief when the familiar sight of the engagement ring that he had so carefully chosen greeted him. 

“What the hell is going on?” Natsu growled, mouth slamming shut when Gray dropped to one knee. 

“Natsu, will you marry me?”

Natsu hesitated only long enough to swallow the emotions clogging his throat. 

“Of course I will, you stupid idiot.” 

There was a small eruption of applause as the few people in the cafeteria celebrated the scene unfolding. Natsu dropped to his knees and pulled Gray into a hug, the embrace warm enough to melt any doubts which Gray may have had before. As their lips met, Gray didn’t feel like he was home anymore; instead he felt like it was a new beginning, a new place of peace which he had only been able to find in the circle of Natsu’s arms. 

“Wait.” Natsu pulled away with confusion. “If that ring is mine then the other one belongs to…”

The pair turned to see Silver sliding the golden band along Gildarts’ finger, the two older men smiling watery, content smiles. 

“Congrats on the engagement.” Gray grinned. 

Silver mirrored the expression perfectly. “Same to you, son.” 

Natsu dragged Gray to his feet and they slid back onto their table with Silver and Gildarts joining them after a brief kiss. 

It was surreal, how a simple date could be the stepping stone towards a bright future with the man he loved, and even if the day wasn’t completely theirs, Gray didn’t mind sharing. Not when he saw the blissfully giddy look radiating from his father’s face. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
